Liz Blondy came to visit our class and shared with us her experiences of owning a business and shared many interesting stories with our class on some of the mistakes she made while running her business. Liz started of
f by saving all of the money she could to get the business started. I thought this was an excellent example of bootstrapping. She was basically bootstrapping her life so she could save her money and ope
n
up her business. She got the idea to open a doggy daycare from a friend who would drive all the way
out to ferndale from Detroit to take her dog to a daycare. She saw the opportunity and took a
dvantage of it. Before opening Canine to five she wasn’t a dog owner didn’t have any skills nor did she have any knowledge on dogs in general. All she knew was that there was an opportunity that had not been taken advantage of. In preparation of opening her daycare she started volunteering at dog shelters such as the Michigan Humane Society and
Ohio Dog shelters and Day-cares. After working in the field she then could go into the business with some knowledge rather than none. The only element I think Liz is missing from her business is a unique selling proposition. One of our students consistently asked her what it was and she couldn’t give an answer. I think if she could find a unique selling proposition rather than just good customer service I think she would be able to double her sales. One thing that I did like about her was that she worked in the field before actually entering into it. That is something I need to do because I have 1000 ideas but have not worked in most of the industries. I do believe this speaker has given me the push to start working in my field before I start my business.
